Apple has been developing its augmented reality plan for more than five years: it’s Tim Cook’s great project

We’ve been hearing rumors about – already budgeted as safe – Apple glasses for a while now.. A device that could appear in the coming years and that will undoubtedly be Apple’s first major mainstream launch in augmented or mixed reality.

Context, as always, is vital, but more so here. With Meta investing massive amounts of money in building its Metaverse with the recent introduction of Meta Quest Pro, how Apple can position itself in front of a new sector with the opportunities this can bring will largely determine what we call the Metaverse in today’s world. a few years or if we stop naming it.

It doesn’t look like the term is one of their favorites among Apple’s executives, but any meaning aside, there does seem to be a battle brewing over who dominates this new board in the end. And in fact, this could be the great project of Tim Cook, who has just completed a decade at the helm of Apple.

Until now, Apple’s biggest foray into AR remains the 2017 release of ARKit., which is currently in version 6. This software offering uses iPhone and iPad cameras and sensors to overlay images in space when the device points to a specific area. This is the technology that, for example, allows simulators like Ikea or some games like Pokémon Go to work.

Since ARKit, Apple has taken other small steps forward with AR apps for the iPhone. In May 2019, the company introduced an augmented reality app for the Statue of Liberty. with Cook on Twitter: “The Statue of Liberty app is just the beginning of how augmented reality will change the way we view the treasures of our world.”

In addition to Tim Cook’s ongoing technology support, hThere are other signs that Apple is moving towards a future where AR can carry a lot of weight as a product. Apple hired Nat Brown, a former Microsoft employee and Xbox promoter; publishing dozens of mixed, augmented and virtual reality patent announcements; acquisitions, including Metaio in 2015 and SensoMotoric in 2017, both in augmented reality; and the rumors about the glasses themselves do not deceive.

Augmented Reality Glasses: Tim Cook’s iPhone?

Information about glasses has been non-stop for the last years. The very last dot indicates a device weighing about 300 grams, which should be connected to the iPhone and have more wearable than other approaches we’ve seen such as Facebook-Meta Quest, HoloLens, or the unfortunate Google glasses.

The risk of rejection still exists. Seeing a person with a device at eye level is a very important leap in terms of the denaturalization it entails in relation to a mobile phone or smart watch. But, of course, this is also the next frontier in the form of a gadget that needs to be conquered.

Of course, it’s not surprising that Apple is in no hurry to produce this augmented reality hardware. Apple has always been very patient when it comes to launching new products, and Cook probably doesn’t want Apple to repeat the failure of Google Glass. Also, because it could be a great innovative element of his job as CEO.

Cook has spoken several times about the revolutionary potential of using augmented reality. In September 2021, he came to announce “RA’s number one fan”always putting it above virtual reality in potential.

But he has done it before. In particular, in 2016 he already clearly stated his vision:

There is virtual reality and there is augmented reality: both are incredibly interesting. But my opinion is that augmented reality is better than the two, perhaps by a lot.

I think that a significant part of the population in developed countries, and eventually in all countries, will experience augmented reality every day, almost like there are three times a day, it will become such a big part of you, many of us live in our smartphones, iPhone , I hope is very important for everyone, so AR will become a really big thing. I don’t think VR will be as big as AR. I’m not saying it’s not important, it’s important, but it won’t mean that much change.”

Cook in a 2016 interview on good morning america

This is one of the many times Cook has cited AR as a vector of innovation that he truly trusts. As well as another emphasis on the metaverse, more related to virtual reality, suggested by Meta; in a new clash between the visions of the technological future that both companies have.